102 Groups Call on Congress to Let Wind Production Tax Credit Expire
Source: Bloomberg BNA Daily Tax Report
Nov. 5 — Congress should allow the 2.3 cent per kilowatt-hour wind production tax credit to expire at the end of the year as scheduled, 102 organizations said in a letter to Congress. The Nov. 4 letter, which was spearheaded by Americans for Prosperity, was signed by groups that included Taxpayers for Common Sense, Heritage Action for America and the Georgia Tea Party Inc. The letter came amid a battle over whether Congress should extend the incentive, which has been extended several times since it began as a temporary measure in 1992, past its Dec. 31 expiration date.
The incentive, which also applies to other renewables besides wind, received a one-year extension at a price of $12.2 billion as part of the American Taxpayer Relief Act (Pub. L. No. 112-240) enacted in January, which also extended the credit by allowing projects under construction by 2013 to qualify. A five-year extension of the credit would cost more than $18.5 billion over 10 years, according to a Joint Committee on Taxation analysis released by a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee (192 DTR G-3, 10/3/13). A one-year extension of the credit would cost nearly $6.2 billion over a 10-year period, the analysis said.
The American Wind Energy Association, which represents companies such as GE Energy, the biggest supplier of wind turbines, and Florida-based wind farm developer NextEra Energy Inc., has argued the credit should be continued. The Washington-based trade group has said the credit's most recent extension has played a role in utilities signing over 5,670 megawatts of new power purchase agreements and in approval to build over 1,870 megawatts of utility-owned wind power.
“We want to continue that momentum, but need predictable policies for the industry to avoid future slowdowns like the one experienced at the beginning of 2013,” AWEA Chief Executive Officer Tom Kiernan said in a statement in October.
Read more: http://americansforprosperity.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/WindPTC_letter2013.pdf
Time to contact Congress
Link is to the letter and signing organizations
“This year, Congress should break from the past and allow the wind PTC to expire as scheduled, once and for all,” the letter, released Nov. 5, said. “Americans deserve energy solutions that can make it on their own in the marketplace—not ones that need to be propped up by the government indefinitely.”
“Congress should end—not phase down, not extend—the wind production tax credit this year,” Americans for Prosperity's federal affairs manager Christine Harbin Hanson said in a statement. “Millions of citizens and dozens of organizations across the country are calling on them to do so.”
= new reply since forum marked as read
It isn't like the Kochs are ever particularly concerned about hypocrisy, but jeeze. 